Secular companies have invited employees to bring their “whole selves” to work. That increasingly includes their religion.

A new article by Jennifer Miller shows that as DEI gains ground, identifying as “religious” does too.

She writes, “Employees from underrepresented groups were encouraged to bring their “authentic” or “whole” selves to work, and companies increased support for identity-based employee groups organized around gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Increasingly, faith is a part of this list.

“Human resources professionals, diversity consultants and scholars all say it’s become more common for employees to share their religious identities at work and to request the same corporate recognition and support given to other identity groups. Most major tech companies now have official faith-based affinity groups.

“Fueling the effort are … nonpartisan, multifaith nonprofits like … the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.”

Read the full article here.

UN General Assembly Tandem Meeting

By Brian Grim

On Tuesday, as world leaders including US President Biden and Ukraine President Zelensky address the UN General Assembly, I participated in the World Economic Forum’s Faith in Action working group preparing a report to be issued at Davos 2023.

Among several takeaways is that the most effective ways emerging to accelerate cross-sector collaboration between business, government and faith involves top-down and bottom-up engagement, the very sort we see when companies include religion as part of their diversity initiatives.

For example, DELL Technologies Interfaith employee resource group (ERG) is leading a pan-diversity initiative to combat human trafficking worldwide by engaging tens of thousands of employees, senior leadership, and faith-based NGOs in practical, collaborative initiatives. Such initiatives are in contrast to merely inviting a religious leader to participate, which has limited impact.

This same strategy is proving a powerful strategy to combat the rising tide of antisemitism and other forms of religious bias and discrimination, as set forward in a US National Strategy launched by the White House, which we are supporting.

By Brian Grim

As Jewish communities prepare for Rosh Hashanah (New Year), we would like to share a new resource on combating the current rise in antisemitism.

In this new video, Marsie Sweetland from Equinix’s Faith Connect begins by describing why she, as someone not of the Jewish faith, is so concerned about rising antisemitism.

I then share how this rise in antisemitism is akin to the alarm set off for all faiths by the proverbial canary in the coal mine, and that this event is an outgrowth of the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

Naomi Kraus* from Google’s Inter Belief Network (IBN) then discusses the current situation and what we can do about it.

Also, just having returned from India, I found it interesting to see how the Hindu American Foundation and the American Jewish Committee celebrate both Janmashtami (Krishna’s birth) and Rosh Hashanah (world’s birth).

*Naomi Kraus is a founding member and current Global Chair of Google’s Inter Belief Network ERG and the Global Lead of the Jewglers subchapter. She is the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors and spoke on how employee resource groups build religious freedom for all by combatting antisemitism and all forms of religious bias and discrimination. Naomi has been with Google for 11 years and, as a Staff User Experience Content Designer, currently works on numerous projects related to Google Search and Maps.

Pictured above are World Bank President Ajay Banga, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and U.S. President Joe Biden at the G20 Summit, in New Delhi (Photo Credit: AP).

By Brian Grim

The African Union (AU) is now a permanent member of G20. The announcement by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came today during the inaugural session of the G20 Leaders Summit, which India is hosting this year.

“With support from all of you, I invite the African Union to join G20,” Modi said amid thunderous applause from world leaders at the summit.

India, which has the largest number of religious adherents of any country, invited the African Union, which as some of the fastest-growing and most religious populations on the planet, to join the G20.

As shown in the chart at the bottom, countries in the top right are both fast growing and religious populations.

Indeed, this scenario coincides with the projections in our 2015 report for the World Economic Forum’s agenda council Changing religion, changing economies: Future global religious and economic growth.

As religious diversity and religious populations grow, so does their potential impact, creating new challenges and opportunities for societies, governments and economies. Business success in the 21st  century requires an understanding of how faith and belief shapes workplaces and marketplaces.

Of course, as our research shows and acknowledged in the G20 New Delhi leaders’ declaration, underlying the socio-economic success of nations is respect for freedom of religion or belief:

This comes on the heels of the G20 Interfaith Forum, which recently concluded.

For more information, check out our Research and Training resources.

By Brian Grim

With 3,000 in attendance, the G20 Interfaith Forum kicked off with a tribute to the interfaith leadership of Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, Founding President and Director General of the MIT World Peace University in Pune, India. His core philosophy is that the “union of science and spirituality alone will bring peace and harmony to the entire humanity.”

In my plenary remarks delivered in the magnificent MIT World Peace Dome, I drew attention to how an estimated one billion prayers from Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, and more accompanied the successful landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the lunar surface on Aug. 23.

When I asked how many of here today prayed for the success of India’s moon mission, nearly all (if not all) 3,000 people raised their hands!

And the moon landing is evidence that Dr. Karad’s philosophy is not mere speculation, but a truth. Writing in RNS, the Hindu-American journalist Murali Balaji wrote an article titled “How India’s foray to the moon might help faiths get along here below: The success of the Chandrayaan-3 is a chance to build a more inclusive nation.”

I concluded by announcing that next month in New Delhi, we are taking this same transformative message to a wider audience of business leaders at the Dare to Overcome Unity in Diversity conference at the New Delhi Taj Mahal Hotel.

By Brian Grim (pictured above today with Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, Founding President and Director General of the MIT World Peace University in Pune, India)

Plenary Remarks delivered at the MIT World Peace Dome on the occasion of a statue of Dr. Karad being unveiled in celebration of his contribution to science, spirituality and world peace.

At the start, I would like to ask all the students here to stand up [about 2,000]. I begin by “felicitating” you because Dr. Karad’s efforts are all aimed at raising up the next generation to take his great ideals of interfaith collaboration and engagement, and our differing spiritualities, and integrate them with our science and even business. As all of you head eventually to jobs, wouldn’t you like to take your spirituality with you and not have to leave it at the door?! Thank you! [please be seated]

At the MIT World Peace University’s inauguration, Dr Vishwanath D Karad said, “In coming years, India will play the role of the knowledge corridor of the world. We have combined science and spirituality to form a new education model. This university has taken its ideals from the path shown, by the forefathers of India, of peace and harmony.”

When Dr. Karad said these words, I don’t know if he foresaw that today India would be one of only four countries to successfully land on and explore the moon. Not only that, but immediately on the heels of that tremendous success, India just launched a mission to monitor the sun. Maybe he did foresee this [did you?].

I am certain that what he foresaw was the role spirituality and science, when working together, bring peace. And the moon landing is evidence that Dr. Karad’s philosophy is not mere speculation, but a truth.

Writing in RNS, the Hindu-American journalist Murali Balaji wrote an article titled “How India’s foray to the moon might help faiths get along here below: The success of the Chandrayaan-3 is a chance to build a more inclusive nation.”

Indeed, some have estimated that a billion prayers from Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, and more accompanied the successful landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the lunar surface on Aug. 23.

How many of you here today prayed for the success of India’s moon mission? [nearly all 3,000 people raised their hands!]

As a Catholic Christian, I was especially heartened to hear that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India celebrated, saying: “The progress made by our scientists and engineers in the field of space research is truly commendable and fills our hearts with pride.” Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the conference president, also said that “the efforts of the [Indian Space Research Organisation] (ISRO) and the entire team behind the project serve as an inspiration to the entire nation.”

Journalist Murali Balaji further noted that “The successful landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the moon’s unexplored south polar region — making India just the fourth country to reach the moon — fostered an immense sense of national pride, among Indians and among the Indian diaspora around the world. India’s collective religiosity was on display in the days leading up to and in the moments after the culmination of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Congregants at Hindu and Jain temples, mosques, Sikh gurdwaras and Christian churches prayed for a successful landing. Even as religious tensions in different parts of India continue to simmer and flare up, it was a remarkable example of unity. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the landing as a moment for all Indians, a refrain echoed by his political rivals and critics.”

Balaji said, “here’s an opportunity for Indians and their counterparts in the diaspora, regardless of their faith or their politics, to re-engage with one another … The pride that Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs feel at this shared accomplishment should make us all open to working together in the future.”

Indeed, the moon landing is evidence that Dr. Karad’s philosophy is not mere speculation, but a truth. For sure, [the] Union of Science and Religion [or] Spirituality alone will bring Peace and Harmony to the entire Humanity”

India, the world’s most populous country, is also one of the most diverse. A core philosophy in India is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which is loosely translated into English as “One Earth • One Family • One Future.” It is the theme for this year’s G20 hosted by India and prominently featured in the G20 logo (above) in Devanagari script and English.

One of the tremendous socio-economic assets of India is it’s cultural and religious pluralism and diversity. Perhaps no phrase captures this more fully than “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” “The World is One Family.” From Gandhi and Nehru to Modi, India’s leaders have evoked the universal spiritual concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, taken from the Maha Upanishad, to elucidate the country’s national and global outlook.

As we gather on this evening for the opening of the G20 Interfaith Forum, we will do so right here in the MIT World Peace Dome, a seminal accomplishment of Dr. Vishwanath Karad. In addition to advancing the truth that, “Science and spirituality go hand in hand to establish a peace-loving society,” he also places a strong emphasis on the universal spiritual concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

In this transformative moment of national success with India’s landing and exploration of the moon, let the upcoming G20 Interfaith Forum held in this very same room be in union with the majority of G20 countries getting it right. Let’s here embrace Dr. Karad’s perspectives that Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, “One Earth • One Family • One Future”  and embrace the universal truth that “[the] Union of Science and Religion [or] Spirituality alone will bring Peace and Harmony to the entire Humanity.”

Finally, next month in New Delhi, also inspired by Dr. Karad, we are taking his transformative message to a wider audience of business leaders at the Dare to Overcome Unity in Diversity business diversity conference at the New Delhi Taj Mahal Hotel. If you’d like to learn more today about how business is also a powerful force for interfaith understanding, join us at the breakout panel B this afternoon at 1:30.

Thank you Dr. Karad for this inspiration – your impact is growing and growing.

By Brian Grim, Ph.D.

India, the world’s most populous country, is also one of the most diverse. A core philosophy in India is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which is loosely translated into English as “One Earth • One Family • One Future.” It is the theme for this year’s G20 hosted by India and prominently featured in the G20 logo (above) in Devanagari script and English.

One of the tremendous socio-economic assets of India is it’s cultural and religious pluralism and diversity. Perhaps no phrase captures this more fully than “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” “The World is One Family.” From Gandhi and Nehru to Modi, India’s leaders have evoked the spiritual phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, taken from the Maha Upanishad, to elucidate the country’s national and global outlook.

As we gather this coming week for the G20 Interfaith Forum, we will also be celebrating the accomplishments of Dr. Vishwanath Karad, Founding President and Director General of the MIT World Peace University in Pune, India. As he has said, “Science and spirituality go hand in hand to establish a peace-loving society,” it is therefore quite natural that he also propagates the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

An Indian Ministry of External Affairs recently pointed out that “the theme of India’s G-20 Presidency in English is One Earth, One Family, One Future. This is based on our civilisational ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which has received widespread support and permeates many of the initiatives that India has brought on to the G-20 agenda.”

China’s Objection: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam may not seem a particularly controversial phrase. However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping may skip the G20 heads of state meeting at the end of next week, with one issue being objecting to India including “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” in Devanagari script at the bottom of the G20 logo (above), ostensibly because it’s not a UN language.

News reports further elaborate “… that China was the only country objecting to the use of the phrase, and even Russia, which has consistently opposed the language in G-20 text with regard to Ukraine, has not joined in the Chinese position on it. According to a number of diplomatic sources, the objection to Sanskrit is one of the several areas where Chinese and Indian negotiators have been wrangling over the past few weeks as the Chinese delegations have taken a more confrontational stance over several phrases introduced by the Indian G-20 Sherpa team.”

One has to wonder whether China is objecting only to the Devanagari script for not being a UN language, or to the very concept of universal values and rights. For more on that, see the recent Economist article, “China’s message to the global south – A new propaganda push: ‘universal values’ are a form of racism.”

There are reports that China leader Xi Jinping may even skip the G20 summit altogether. The row over the term Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam may be more than linguistic, but also ideological.